The present invention relates to an electrical panel locking apparatus and especially to an apparatus for locking an electrical panel door closed while electrical wiring is being modified or repaired.
In the past, it has been common for electricians and repairmen to use the main electrical panel box of a building to disengage one circuit or all the circuits of a building during the making of repairs or additions to the electrical system. This has presented a problem in that main switch boxes are frequently located in garages or remote areas while the work being performed on the electrical system is located in a remote area from the panel box. Thus, anyone in the building seeing that the power has been disengaged can open the panel box and reconnect the panel circuit while the electrician or repairman is working thereon and thus present an electrical hazard. To overcome this type of an electrical hazard, it has been suggested that once an electrical circuit has been disengaged, that the panel door on the electrical box be locked. Some electrical boxes do have key locks for the door and some have openings which provide for a shackle type lock to lock the boxes. This has proven to be inadequate in that boxes having a built-in lock requires that the key be available and on other types of electrical boxes, they usually do not have padlocks attached to them. The main panel box for a building is usually located outside so that in the case of a fire or similar situation, access can be obtained to the electrical box readily to turn off the power to a building without having to enter the building. These boxes, however, typically only turn the power off for the entire building. The present invention is a locking system for use by electricians made to universally fit electrical front panels for locking the panel door closed while work is being done upon the electrical circuits.
Prior art patents which use some types of bars for locking an access opening for preventing entry thereinto can be seen in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,840, to Wilson, Jr., for a bung plug locking device which attaches to a drum for locking the bung in place. It has a pair of telescoping bars, one telescoping relative to the other and one adapted to be used with a matching bung having a hasp-like connection which will accept a padlock. In the U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,659, to Benefield, Sr., a locking device for mailboxes is shown in which a bar is hingedly attached in one embodiment but in another embodiment merely locks on either end across a series of adjacent mailboxes. In the Blair et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,993, an electrical power meter box lock has a solid rod with a flared head to engage spring steel blades for locking a meter box. In the prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,775, to Shea, a fastener for a pay telephone station coin box has a hasp type lock attached to a pay phone. In the Soehner et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,096, an access cover security device is illustrated for securely locking the access cover to a housing, such as in an electrical meter. In the Blair et al. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,738, a meter box lock is provided for securely closing a commercial electric power meter box at the front of the meter box. The Moberg patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,860, has a front entry electric meter locking assembly. The Granda patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,621,687, is a padlock installation in which the door itself operates similar to a hasp. In the Swiss patent, No. 101,912 to Ritter, a strap lock for a storage container is shown.
In contrast to these prior art devices, the present invention is a universal electrical panel locking device which readily attaches to any size electrical box front panel and allows the panel door to be securely locked with a conventional padlock and can be carried with an electrician or anyone that works on electrical circuits and which can be rapidly attached to the panel box after the circuits that are being worked upon have the circuit breakers opened.